Below are some identification’s kindly passed onto me through the Natural History Museums (NaturePlus) website by palaeoentomologist, Dr. Andrew Ross. From finds found on the SDGS most recent visit to Smokejacks quarry.

Just for people that do not know. The sediments hold an incredible insect bed at Smokejacks Quarry and are from an Early Cretaceous environment. (Upper Weald Clay Formation – Barremian – 125 to 130 million years old) with studies showing that they were deposited in a lake/lagoon to a river mud plain environment.

In a desperate attempt to avoid capture thousands of Thrissops fish swarm together into a bait ball. Trachyteuthis belemnites and Pectinatites ammonites also take action to leave the scene as three Ichthyosaurs (unnamed) hunt for prey. The youngest Ichthyosaur darts into the bait ball causing the Thrissops to separate and open a writhing circular window to the ocean surface above.

One of the things that makes mammals special is our diverse forelimbs -- bat wings, whale flippers, gibbon arms, and cheetah legs have evolved to do different, specialized tasks. Scientists wanted to see where this mammalian trait started evolving, so they examined fossils from early mammal relatives to see when the upper arm bones started […]

A scientific study describes for the first time the submarine cartography of a high-latitude system in the IBIS channel, which covers tens of kilometers in the northern western area of the Barents Sea, in the Arctic Ocean. This channel is one of the few submarine valleys in polar latitudes that kept its geological architecture during […]

For the first time, researchers have simulated the process of surface roughness creation. This is a step forward in understanding the emergence of fractal characteristic of rough surfaces on many scales ranging from atomic to geological scales. The perspectives of their findings are far reaching. Controlling surface roughness is essential to the performance and durability […]

Cannot wait for #NatSCA2019 it's an ace line up of talks, the tours are around some of my favourite places, and well its 🇮🇪Dublin🇪🇺, just simply one of the best for culture, lovely people and good drinks! https://t.co/3ReQ2H3pRO

Harlan's ground sloth Paramylodon harlani with a baby.
Ground sloths are probably the most expressive of ancient beasts but they balance that being among the most bizzarre and fascinating of creatures.
#Paleoart #Sloth #Pleistocene #Iceage

We've decided to extend our #NatSCA2019 Early Bird deadline until 1st April. We don't want people to pay more for our Dublin conference because they're waiting to see what happens with #Brexit https://t.co/MyRArxzipY